International Journal of Emerging Science and Engineering (IJESE)
ISSN: 2319–6378, Volume-1 Issue-5, March 2013
73
Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
& Sciences Publication
Retrieval Number: E0204031513/2013©BEIESP
Effect of Water Absorption and Sorptivity on
Durability of Pozzocrete Mortar
Rushabh A. Shah, Jayeshkumar Pitroda
Abstract- After evaporation of excess water in the mortar, voids
inside the mortar creates capillaries which are directly related to
porosity and permeability of the mortar. Proper selection of
ingredients, adequate mix proportioning & followed by good
construction practices lead to almost impervious mortar. Due to
incomplete compaction; mortar may consists gel pores & capillary
pores, which leads to low strength of mortar. Due to problems
associated with the absorption test and permeability test; which
are measuring the response of mortar to pressure which is rarely
the driving force of fluids entering in to mortar; hence there is a
need for another type of test. Such tests should measure the rate of
absorption of water by capillary suction; “sorptivity” of
unsaturated mortar. In this paper, an attempt is made to study
sorptivity and water absorption properties of Pozzocrete mortar.
The mix design was carried out for 1:3 proportion cement mortar
on the basis of IS 269:1970.
Key words-capillary suction,sorptivity, water absorption,
Pozzocrete, mortar
I. INTRODUCTION
Mortar is a material having tiny spaces through which liquid
or air may pass.The durability of mortar depends largely on
the movement of water and gas enters and moves through it.
The permeability is an indicator of mortar’s ability to
transport water more precisely with both mechanism that is
controlling the uptake and transport of water and gaseous
substances into cementitious material. whileSorptivity is
materials ability to absorb and transmit water through it by
capillary suction.
Uptake of water by unsaturated, hardened mortar may be
characterized by the sorptivity. This is a simple parameter to
determine and is increasingly being used as a measure of
mortar resistance to exposure in aggressive environments.
Sorptivity, or capillary suction, is the transport of liquids in
porous solids due to surface tension acting in capillaries. It is
a function of the viscosity, density and surface tension of the
liquid and also the pore structure (radius, tortuosity and
continuity of capillaries) of the porous solid. It is measured as
the rate of uptake of water.
Manuscript received on March, 2013 Rushabh A. Shah, Student of final year M.E. C E & M,B.V.M.
Engineering College,Vallabh Vidyanagar
Jayeshkumar Pitroda, Assistant Professor & Research Scholar, Civil
Engg Department, B.V.M. Engg.College, Vallabh Vidhyanagar-Gujarat-India
Transport mechanisms act at the level of the capillary pores
and depend on the fluid and the solid characteristics. The
porous structure of mortar is intimately related with its
permeability. A low water/cement ratio results in mortar
structures which are less permeable because they are
characterized by having small pores which are not
interconnected.
TABLE 1
ACCEPTANCE LIMITS FOR DURABILITY INDEXES
Acceptance Criteria OPI
(log scale)
Sorptivity
(mm/h)
Laboratory mortar >10 < 6
As-built
Structures
Full
acceptance
> 9,4 < 9
Conditional
acceptance
9,0 to 9,4 9 to 12
Remedial
measures
8,75 to 9,0 12 to 15
Rejection < 8,75 >15
II. DESIGN MIX MATERIALS
a) Supplementary cementitious material: Pozzocrete Pozzocrete (P40, P60 and P100)
Pozzocrete (P40, P60 and P100) is a high efficiency
pozzolanic material, obtained by selection, processing and
testing of fly ash resulting from the combustion of coal at
electricity generating power stations. It is subjected to strict
quality control procedures. P60 confirms to IS: 3812 part-1
fly ash and P40 confirms to ASTM 618 fly ash for use as
component of cement with Portland clinker.
TABLE- 2
GENERAL PROPERTIES OF POZZOCRETE
Property P40 P60 P100
Presentation Finely
divided dry
powder
Finely
divided dry
powder
Finely
divided
dry
powder
Specific
Gravity
2.3 2.3 2.3
Colour Light grey Light grey Greyish
white
Bulk weight
(tonne per
m3)
1.0 tonne per
m3
1.0 tonne
per m3
0.65 tonne
per m3
Loss on
Ignition
<2.5% <2.5% <2.5%
Effect of Water Absorption and Sorptivity on Durability of Pozzocrete Mortar
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Particle size <25%
retained on
45 micron
sieve
<18%
retained on
45 micron
sieve
Zero
retention
on 45
micron
sieve , less
than
0.25%
retained on
25 micron
sieve
Particle
shape
Spherical Spherical Spherical
Package 1 tonne
big-bags and
bulk tankers
30 kg bags,
1 tonne
big-bags
and bulk
tankers
30 kg bags
b) Cement
The cement used is SANGHI OPC 53 grade cement. The
Ordinary Portland Cement of 53 grade conforming
to IS: 8112-1989is be use. Tests were conducted on cement
like Specific gravity, consistency tests, setting tests,
soundness, Compressive strength N/mm2 at 28 days.
Fig 1: SANGHI CEMENT
TABLE –3
PROPERTIES OF CEMENT
Sr.no.
properties Result
Requirements
as per
IS:8112-1989
1 Specific gravity 3.15 3.10-3.15
2 Standard
consistency (%) 31.5 %
30-35
3 Initial setting
time (hours, min) 91 min
30 minimum
4 Final setting time
(hours, min)
211
min
600 maximum
5 Compressive
strength
58
N/mm2
53
N/mm2minimum
d) Fine aggregate
Those fractions from 4.75 mm to 150 micron are
termed as fine aggregate. The river sand is used as fine
aggregate conforming to the requirements of IS:
383. The river sand is washed and screened, to eliminate
deleterious materials and over size particles.
Fig 2: Fine aggregate (River sand)
TABLE- 4
PROPERTIES OF SAND
Property Fine Aggregate
(River sand)
Fineness modulus 3.1
Specific Gravity 2.767
Water absorption (%) 1.2
Bulk Density (gm/cc) 1.78
e) Water
Water is an important ingredient of Mortar as it actually
participates in the chemical reaction with cement. Since it
helps to from the strength giving cement gel, the quantity and
quality of water is required to be looked into very carefully.
III.DESIGN MIX METHODOLOGY
a) Design Mix
A cement mortar mix 1:3 was designed as per IS: 269
methods and the same were used to prepare the test samples.
The design mix proportion is done in Table 5,6 and 7.
TABLE - 5
MIX DESIGN PROPORTIONS
Water Cement Fine aggregate
By Weight,
[gms]
86 200 600
By Volume,
[m3]
0.43 1 3
TABLE- 6
CEMENT REPLACEMENT BY POZZOCRETE (P40, P60
AND P100)
Sr. No. Types of
Mortar
Description of Mortar
1 A1 River Sand Mortar (1:3)
2 B1 10% Cement Replacement by
Pozzocrete (P40)
3 B2 30% Cement Replacement by
Pozzocrete (P40)
4 B3 50% Cement Replacement by
Pozzocrete (P40)
5 C1 10% Cement Replacement by
Pozzocrete (P60)
6 C2 30% Cement Replacement by
Pozzocrete (P60)
7 C3 50% Cement Replacement by
Pozzocrete (P60)
International Journal of Emerging Science and Engineering (IJESE)
ISSN: 2319–6378, Volume-1 Issue-5, March 2013
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Published By:
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Retrieval Number: E0204031513/2013©BEIESP
8 D1 10% Cement Replacement by
Pozzocrete (P100)
9 D2 30% Cement Replacement by
Pozzocrete (P100)
10 D3 50% Cement Replacement by
Pozzocrete (P100)
TABLE- 7
MIX PROPORTION FOR MORTAR
M.T.
W/C
ratio
Design Mix Proportions For Mortar
(1:3)
C
F.A.
P 40 P 60 P 100
A1 0.45 1 3 - - -
B1 0.45 0.9 3 0.1 - -
B2 0.45 0.7 3 0.3 - -
B3 0.45 0.5 3 0.5 - -
C1 0.45 0.9 3 - 0.1 -
C2 0.45 0.7 3 - 0.3 -
C3 0.45 0.5 3 - 0.5 -
D1 0.45 0.9 3 - - 0.1
D2 0.45 0.7 3 - - 0.3
D3 0.45 0.5 3 - - 0.5
M.T. =Mortar Type, W/C ratio= Water/Cement Ratio,C=
Cement, F.A. = Fine Aggregate,
b) Water absorption test
The 70.7 mm x 70.7 mm x 70.7mm size cubeafter casting
were immersed in water for 28 days curing.These specimens
were then oven dried for 24 hours at the temperature85°C
until the mass became constant and again weighed. This
weightwas noted as the dry weight (W1) of the
cylinder.After that the specimen was kept in water at 85°c
for 24 hours. Then this weight was noted as the wet weight
(W2) of the cylinder.
% water absorption = [(W2– W1) / W1] x 100
Where,
W1 = Oven dry weight of cubes in grams
W2 = After 24 hours wetweightof cubes in grams.
Fig 3: Setup of Oven
Fig 4: Setup of Hot Water Curing
c) Sorptivity test
The sorptivity can be determined by the measurement of the
capillary rise absorption rate on reasonably homogeneous
material. Water was used of the test fluid. The cubes after
casting were immersed in water for 28 days curing. The
specimen size 70.7 mm x 70.7 mm x 70.7mm after drying in
oven at temperature of 85 °C were drowned as shown in
figure 6 with water level not more than 5 mm above the base
of specimen and the flow from the peripheral surface is
prevented by sealing it properly with non-absorbent coating.
The quantity of water absorbed in time period of 30 minutes
was measured by weighting the specimen on a top pan
balance weighting upto 0.1 mg. surface water on the
specimen was wiped off with a dampened tissue and each
weighting operation was completed within 30 seconds.
Sorptivity (S) is a material property which characterizes the
tendency of a porous material to absorb and transmit water by
capillarity. The cumulative water absorption (per unit area of
the inflow surface) increases as the square root of elapsed
time (t)
I=S.t½
therefore S=I/ t½
Where;
S= sorptivity in mm,
t= elapsed time in mint.
I=Δw/Ad
Δw= change in weight = W2-W1
W1 = Oven dry weight of cylinder in grams
W2 = Weight of cylinder after30 minutes capillary suction
of water in grams.
A= surface area of the specimen through which water
penetrated.
d= density of water
Fig 5: Setup of weight
Effect of Water Absorption and Sorptivity on Durability of Pozzocrete Mortar
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Fig 6: Setup of Sorptivity
IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Table-8 and 9gives the water absorption and Sorptivity test
results of % replacement of fly ash in mortar for 28 days
curing. The % replacement vs % water absorption and
Sorptivity results are graphically shown in figure 7 and 8.
TABLE 8
AVERAGE % WATER ABSORPTION AT 28 DAYS
Mortar
Type
DryWt
in grams
(W1)
Wet Wt
in grams
(W2)
%
Water
Absorption
A1 772 806 2.77
B1 776 806 3.08
B2 780 804 3.84
B3 769 804 4.83
C1 770 798 3.67
C2 788 818 3.75
C3 752 781 3.85
D1 780 812 2.90
D2 801 825 3.00
D3 783 806 4.14
Fig. 7: % Replacement of cement versus % water
absorption
TABLE- 9
SORPTIVITY AT 28 DAYS
Mortar
Type
Dry Wt
in
grams
(W1)
WetWt
in
grams
(W2)
Sorptivity
value
in 10-4
mm/min0.5
A1 793 797 1.46
B1 797 800 1.10
B2 800 802 0.73
B3 797 800 1.10
C1 790 792 0.73
C2 810 813 1.10
C3 772 775 1.10
D1 802 804 0.73
D2 818 822 1.46
D3 799 802 1.10
Fig. 8: % Replacement of cement versus sorptivity
V. CONCLUSION
Based on limited experimental investigation concerning the
water absorption and sorptivity of mortar, the following
observations are made regarding the resistance of partially
replaced Pozzocrete1:3 proportion mortar:
(a) The water absorption of Pozzocrete P40, P60and P100 in
Pozzocrete 1:3 mortar mix higher than traditional
mortar.
(b) Where percentage increase in water absorption is found
to be 4.83% for P40, 3.85% for P60, 4.14% for P100 and
sorptivity is found to be 1.10 mm/min0.5
for P40, 1.10
mm/min0.5
for P60, 1.10 mm/min0.5
for P100 respect to
reference mix.
(c) The water absorption and sorptivity of P40,P60 and
P100 Pozzocrete1:3 proportion mortar shows higher
water absorption and lesser sorptivity than traditional
mortar.
(d) The Pozzocrete can be innovative supplementary
cementitious Construction Material but judicious
decisions are to be taken by engineers.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The Authors thankfully acknowledge to Dr.C.L.Patel,
Chairman, Charutar Vidya Mandal, Er.V.M.Patel, Hon.Jt.
Secretary, Charutar Vidya Mandal, Mr. Yatinbhai Desai, Jay
Maharaj construction, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat, India for
their motivational and infrastructural support to carry out this
research.
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ISSN: 2319–6378, Volume-1 Issue-5, March 2013
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Published By:
Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
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Retrieval Number: E0204031513/2013©BEIESP
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AUTHORS PRORIFLE
RushabhAjaykumar Shah , was born in 1990 in
Vyara Town. He received his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering from the Birla
Vishvakarma Mahavidyalaya Engineering Collage,
Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidya Nagar in 2011. At present he is Final year student of Master`s Degree
in Construction Engineering and Management from Birla Vishvakarma Mahavidyalaya, Gujarat
Technological University.He has papers published in
International Journals.
Prof. Jayeshkumar R. Pitroda, was born in 1977
in Vadodara City. He received his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering from the
Birla Vishvakarma Mahavidyalaya, Sardar Patel
University in 2000. In 2009 he received his Master's Degree in Construction Engineering and
Management from Birla Vishvakarma
Mahavidyalaya, Sardar Patel University. He joined Birla Vishvakarma Mahavidyalaya Engineering College as a faculty
where he is Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering Department with a total
experience of 12 years in field of Research, Designing and education. He has papers published in National Conferences and International Journals.